When is a tree a large tree?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2018-08-20 00:01

When is a tree a large tree? It turns out that the answer is when they are around 50 cm in diameter at a person's breast height (or 1.3 m above ground level), according to Australian research. Large trees often contain hollows which possums, birds and other wildlife use as homes, and they are important for conservation but to work out how many hollows there might be in an area you first need to know how many large trees there are. The researchers looked at 68 different types of trees and worked out how big the trees would need to be to likely to have a hollow. Although there was quite a bit of variation, the authors say trees of around 50 cm in diameter fit the bill for most vegetation types.

Journal/conference: Australian Forestry

Organisation/s: The University of New South Wales, NSW Government

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Australia NSW

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